Guide
How much does it cost to build an app in the UK?
Building an app in the UK typically costs a few hundred pounds if you do it yourself with no-code or AI tools, roughly £5,000 to £25,000 with a freelancer, £10,000 to £60,000 with a small studio and £40,000 to £150,000 or more with an agency. Scope moves the price far more than who builds it. Once it's live, budget around 15 to 20% of the build cost a year to keep it running and up to date.
By Max Winter-Leinweber9 min read
- DIY with builders
- Hundreds of pounds plus your time
- Freelancer MVP
- Roughly £5,000 to £25,000
- Studio or agency
- Roughly £10,000 to £150,000+
- Typical MVP timeline
- 6 to 12 weeks
- Yearly upkeep
- Often 15 to 20% of the build
The price depends on who builds it
£10,000 to £60,000 is the range most UK founders are quoted for a focused first version built by a small studio. Do it yourself and the cash cost drops to a few hundred pounds; hire a full-service agency and it can pass £150,000. These are the ranges we see quoted, not survey figures, and they overlap a lot: a simple app from an agency can cost less than a complicated one from a freelancer.
| Route | Typical cost | What you get | What you still do yourself |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself | A few hundred pounds | A no-code or AI builder on a monthly subscription | Everything, plus hitting the walls when payments and personal data arrive |
| Freelancer | £5,000 to £25,000 | One developer at roughly £300 to £700 a day | Usually design, testing and project management |
| Small studio | £10,000 to £60,000 | Design, build and launch from a small team, with a written estimate first | Decisions, content and feedback |
| Agency | £40,000 to £150,000+ | Account managers, designers, QA and a formal discovery phase | Very little, but you pay for the machinery |
Cost by type of app
What the app does matters more than who builds it. The table below gives rough ranges for a focused first version from a small studio. They're our own planning estimates for typical scopes, not quotes, and your app can land outside them in either direction.
| Type of app | A typical first version | Rough cost | Rough timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Internal tool or dashboard | Sign-in, a few data screens, an export, two roles | £10,000 to £20,000 | 4 to 8 weeks |
| Booking or appointments app | Availability, booking, payment, reminders, staff view | £12,000 to £30,000 | 6 to 10 weeks |
| SaaS web app | Accounts, teams, one core workflow, subscriptions, admin | £15,000 to £40,000 | 6 to 12 weeks |
| AI-powered product | One core AI feature, usage limits, billing, logging | £15,000 to £45,000 | 6 to 12 weeks |
| Two-sided marketplace | Two user types, listings, search, payouts, moderation | £25,000 to £60,000 | 8 to 16 weeks |
| Native iOS and Android app | Shared codebase, backend, store submission | £25,000 to £60,000+ | 10 to 16 weeks |
The same label can hide very different projects. An app built for one business and a platform that many businesses sign up to, each with their own users and settings, can share a name and almost nothing else on the invoice.
What moves a quote up or down
Scope moves it most: how many screens, how many kinds of user and how many other systems the app talks to. Day rates matter less than people expect, because a cheaper developer on a bigger scope still sends a bigger invoice.
| Cost driver | Cheaper end | Expensive end |
|---|---|---|
| Admin tools | Editing data in the database dashboard | A full back office with refunds, moderation and reports |
| User roles | One kind of user | Customer, staff and admin, each tested separately |
| Payments | A one-off Stripe Checkout | Subscriptions with trials, proration, retries and VAT invoices |
| Integrations | A well documented API such as Stripe or Xero | An old system with a SOAP API and an unreliable test environment |
| Platforms | One responsive web app | Web, iOS and Android, each with its own testing and review |
| Design | A clean interface on a component library | A bespoke brand system with custom illustration and animation |
Admin tools are the one founders forget most often. Somebody has to refund a customer, ban a spammer and fix a typo in a listing, and a proper back office can be a surprisingly large slice of the build. Payments come second: a Stripe webhook that fires twice and books the same class twice is the kind of bug you only avoid by designing for it from the start.
How long it takes, and why waiting costs more than coding
A focused MVP usually takes 6 to 12 weeks, a fuller product 3 to 6 months, and a platform with several apps and lots of integrations 6 months or more. Time and money move together, since nearly all of the cost is people's time. If someone quotes three weeks for a marketplace with payments, ask what they've left out.
The code is rarely what holds a launch up. Waiting is: on copy and decisions from the founder, on a payment provider's account checks, on API keys from a partner, and on App Store review, which is often quick but can stretch to a couple of weeks if the first submission is rejected. Build those waits into the plan and you'll hit your date far more often.
Running costs per month
An early-stage web app typically costs tens of pounds a month to host, plus maintenance of roughly 15 to 20% of the build cost a year. Maintenance is the bigger number by far, and the one most budgets leave out. The percentage is a rule of thumb: a quiet internal tool can cost much less, and a product you're actively growing will cost more.
| Item | Typical cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting and database | Tens of pounds a month at first | Vercel, Render or a managed Postgres provider; climbs with traffic, storage and jobs |
| Email, error tracking and analytics | Free tiers, then tens of pounds a month | Billed by usage once you outgrow the free allowance |
| AI, SMS and maps APIs | Pennies per call, by usage | The lines to watch as you grow; set limits per user |
| Apple Developer Program | US$99 a year | Needed to publish on the App Store; charged in local currency |
| Google Play | US$25 once | One-off registration fee at the time of writing |
| Store commission | 15% to 30% of in-app digital sales | Depends on the programme and your revenue; Stripe on the web costs far less |
| Maintenance | 15 to 20% of the build a year | Updates, security patches, bug fixes and new iOS and Android releases |
To work out your own figure, take 15 to 20% of the build cost, divide it by twelve, and add your hosting and service bills. A native mobile app sits higher than a web app, because the operating system changes under it every year.
How to spend less without regretting it
Build less, not worse. Launch the smallest version people will actually use and pay for, then let them tell you what's missing. Most first versions we'd scope have one core workflow, sign-up, payments and a basic admin page, and nothing else.
Start on the web unless the product genuinely needs a native app. A responsive web app works on every phone and laptop, ships without app store review and avoids store commission; offline use in the field or background location tracking are the usual reasons to go native first. Buy the boring parts too. Authentication, payments, email and search are solved problems. And if you already have a prototype from Lovable, Bolt or a no-code tool, bring it: it's a working specification, and sometimes a codebase worth keeping.
Getting a quote you can rely on
Send every supplier the same short written brief and ask for an itemised estimate back. A page or two is enough. The clearer the brief, the closer the quotes land to each other and to the final bill.
Say who the app is for and how they solve the problem today.
List the must-have features, and keep nice-to-haves on a separate list so they can be priced as options.
Name every user role, platform and integration. These move the price most, so don't leave them implied.
Share whatever exists: sketches, a prototype, an old codebase, or a competitor's app you'd like to resemble.
Ask what's excluded. Design, content, testing, hosting setup, store submission and post-launch support are the usual gaps.
Ask how changes are priced, because there will be changes.
At Scryptic, full app to market builds start from £10,000 depending on complexity, usually take 1 to 2 months from kickoff to launch, and the written estimate comes before any work starts. Whoever you go with, our guide on choosing an app development company in the UK covers what else to check before you sign.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the average cost of app development in the UK?
- There isn't a useful single average, because a booking app and a two-sided marketplace are different projects. As a rough guide, a focused first version typically costs £10,000 to £60,000 with a small studio and more with a larger agency. A written scope is the only way to get a number you can rely on for your app.
- Can I build an app for under £5,000?
- Yes, if you build it yourself with no-code or AI tools, or the scope is very small. At that budget a professional build is usually a prototype rather than a production app. That's a perfectly good first step if you want to test demand before spending more.
- How much do app developers charge per day in the UK?
- UK freelance app developers typically charge around £300 to £700 a day, depending on experience and the technology. Studios and agencies often quote a fixed price for a defined scope instead, which builds in design, testing and project management.
- Is a web app cheaper to build than a mobile app?
- Usually, yes. One responsive web app runs on every device, skips app store review and avoids store commission on digital sales. Native apps earn their extra cost when you need offline use, background location or deep access to the phone's hardware.
- How much does app maintenance cost per year?
- A common rule of thumb is 15 to 20% of the original build cost a year, plus hosting and third-party fees. Apps with lots of integrations, or ones you keep adding features to, sit at the top of that range. Mobile apps also need updating for each new iOS and Android release.
- Why are app development quotes so different?
- Mostly because each supplier is pricing a slightly different app in their head. Differences in what's included, like design, testing and launch support, widen the gap. Send everyone the same written brief and ask for itemised estimates so you're comparing like with like.